


A Spark

by MrSandman23



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:17:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7863283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrSandman23/pseuds/MrSandman23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things were changed. And then things went wrong. For everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. I own nothing made by Hasbro and shtuff. As an update to the posting schedule, I'll post after I finish writing the chapter after the up and coming chapter. I like to have self-assurance. =/ But comment if you like, or don't. It's fuelled by my own imagination so I'll probably shrug at any hate. 
> 
> Cool beans. =)

"You wanna piece of me?!"

 

"No... I want two!" 

 

Everything seemed to stop for him... then he fell. Much further than was easily survival by most sentient beings.

 

The pavement crumbled as he smashed into it, a spiderweb of cracks appearing as he tumbled and crushed a parked car with the weight of his body. Jazz knew he was in a bad way. He had hardly even felt himself hit the ground, and that was never a good sign.

 

He vented violently as energon sprayed the asphalt around him. The edges of his vision was starting to darken, and he could feel that he was not long for the world. He had regrets. He wasn't afraid to admit that to himself. But one stood out among them. A single face. Her beauty beyond anything he could attempt to compare it to... Oh Primus he had regrets.

 

"Jazz!" The voice was loud as a pair of servos grabbed his armor. He turned his head and focused his optics on the blurry figure above him, a hint of yellow... "R-ratchet....?"

 

He vented roughly again as the figure above him began to frantically move it's arms, doing something outside of his view.

 

"Yes, yes, it's me Jazz. Now stay with me, and don't you dare offline on me." He said gruffly as Jazz let his head fell back on to the ground.

 

"I-i need...."

 

"Don't speak Jazz. Save your strength." The medic barked these last words as an order, and he was surprised when Jazz reached for him with a servos. 

 

"Ratchet... find my s-son... J-J-Jason... tell him I'm... S-s-sorry...." At these last words, his optics flickered, then faded to black.

 

\---------------------------

 

Over a thousand miles away, there lay a small building with peeling green paint. It was tucked away among the other worn buildings lining the barren street. The windows were dark, and many of the shutters were closed, except for a small few. In the darkness of one, the pale outline of a small child’s face was illuminated by the light of the moon. 

 

He sat crossed legged on the worn brown carpet floor. His head rested on his hands as he stared out at the moonlit sky. A dark bruising ran from his eye down his cheek, stopping just under his nose, evidence of the older kids rough behavior with him only a few hours earlier. 

 

The boy felt sad. Not for any reason he knew. The feeling of overwhelming depression had slowly built up in him over the last hour, his eyes only now began to well up with tears. It was as if a terrible tragedy had just occurred, and he could feel the ache of loss deep in his chest. Not that he truly knew the feeling. He had not owned much in the way of possessions, just the clothes on his back and little else. 

 

He breathed in a deep, shuddering breath as he wiped the tears away, then jumped slightly as a voice whispered behind him.

 

"You're still up J?" The owner of the voice sat down next to him. 

 

"I couldn't sleep... " J muttered as he glanced over at his friend. "Why are you up, Toby?"

 

He shrugged. "I didn't feel like sleeping." He rubbed his side which no doubt had a similar bruise on it. They were both used to the rough treatment delivered by the older boys. And the lack of attention from the adults didn't help either.

 

The two boys stared out of the window for a couple minutes before

Toby spoke up again. "We could run you know. Just leave all of this behind and fend for ourselves." He paused as he looked at his friend. 

 

"It would be better than here."

 

"But where would we go?" The boy asked, staring out at the full moon. "This is all we know...."

 

\---------------------

 

2 years later

 

He dropped to the dirt and froze as he glanced around, keeping an eye out for any movement. The junkyard was eerily quiet, but quiet was good. Quiet meant he would hear any approaching footsteps. Quiet meant no dogs. And quiet meant no idling vehicles.

 

He rose and moved forward into the towering piles of discarded treasures and only once he had disappeared into the trove did he pull out a small penlight and shine it on the piles. Using one hand to guard the light from unwanted observers, he clambered over the broken husks of rusted cars and around refrigerators with missing doors, pausing for a moment as the light fell on a teddy bear without it's glass eyes. Kneeling, he picked it up and held it in his hand for a moment, then shrugging the strap off of his shoulder, he put the bear gently into the worn black backpack that had been resting on his shoulders.

 

It was just a brief moment, and J was already on the move again as he grabbed a couple old laptops and worn cables from the piles. 

 

It was incredible the things people threw away. Things that would cost a couple dollars to fix, or if you knew what you were doing, a couple minutes.  One persons' junk was another’s' treasure.

 

He stumbled as his foot caught on something, and as he caught himself on a shattered wardrobe the sound of a guitar broke the silence. He froze and snapped the light off as he listened closely for any noises. The notes slowly died into nothingness, and when no other noises emerged, he allowed himself to breath again.

 

Switching the light back on, he looked at what had caused the disturbance. It was an old worn down acoustic guitar. Cautiously, he picked it up, careful not to strum the strings as he inspected it. A couple of strings were missing, but other than that, it was in workable condition. Talk about a lucky find.

 

"This is not your rule! The Fallen shall rise again!"

 

The words reverberated through Optimus Prime as he sat motionless in his alternate form, the only movement caused by the rumbling of the plane he sat in.

 

The operation in Shanghai had been messy, and too many had met their demise due to Demolishors' actions. His sparked ached for them, but his processor was running at a higher than normal capacity in an attempt to find a reference to this 'Fallen'. 

 

But the name also brought back memories of his fallen brethren. Too many to name. But among them, his late second in command. Ratchet had informed him of Jazz’s' final words sometime after the battle of Mission City. The initial shock had been that Jazz had a sparkling. The who, what, and when of that itself had been puzzling. But the realization of his name being so abnormally human had nearly caused a glitch in their systems. 

 

The plane shuddered and Optimus was brought out of his processes. They had landed.

 

 --------------------------------

 

"More circuit boards? What are you even going to make with this stuff J?"

 

J had returned only minutes before and was now sitting on his makeshift bed, the collection of items strewn about him as he worked on taking one of the more damaged laptops apart.

 

They had left the orphanage only a month after Toby had suggested it. The place had begun to get more and more crowded, and when the time had come, the population of the home had reached a breaking point, and the quality of living an all time low.

 

They had escaped in the dead of night with a couple of other kids they had grown up with, and one younger kid that was such a subject for torment by the older kids that they had elected to bring him, probably saving his life in the process.

 

They had managed to hike out of state and ended up finding an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Detroit. 

 

They had made their home there after scouting the area and finding that there were, in fact, a number of places from which they could easily scavenge food. This mostly involved the trash bins behind restaurants. Other materials necessary for living, like blankets, clothing, and other bedding had been acquired rather easily through dumpster diving and a couple visits to the junkyard.

 

By now their worries mostly consisted of avoiding the police and obtaining clean water, allowing J to dedicate time to working on his newfound hobby.

 

"I'm thinking... " He said as he pulled a connection out of one of the damaged laptops. "...that if I can run a cable to that cafe down the street..." He put the device to the side as he turned to a television that had it's back panel removed, revealing a mess of wires inside. "I can get us some cable." 

 

Toby sighed as he watched his friend work. "Where did you even learn to do this?" He asked.

 

J shrugged. "I dunno, I just kinda worked it out." He shoved his hands deep in the mess of cables and began to adjust things. "By the way, check out what I found at the yard." He nodded at the guitar.

 

"Woah. That's like still intact and everything!" 

 

"Yeah, it's just missing a string or two."

 

Toby picked up the instrument and looked it over, before shaking his head in disappointment. "Man... people..."

 

"People." J agreed.

 

After fiddling with the innards of the television for a little while, J got to his feet and began walking across the warehouse floor, a small box in hand. Halfway across, the younger boy, Ace appeared beside him.

 

"What're ya doin'?" He asked quietly.

 

J glanced sideways at him. "You want to help?"

 

The boy nodded. "Okay then, just stick with me." 

 

The other side of the warehouse floor had been dedicated to the casual tossing, or as Toby put it, the collection of unused junk. Basically anything they didn't know how to use, they tossed it there.

 

J dug through it until he found a very long length of coiled cable. He handed it to the younger boy. "You see this?" He asked, indicating the box. The boy nodded. "This thing emits a wifi signal, which means if I can get it connected to a modem, we'll be able to establish a signal with it in the warehouse."

 

"But where're we gonna get that?" 

 

J patted his shoulder as he straightened up. "Just follow me. I'll show you." 

 

J led the boy out of the warehouse and into the dim light of early morning. The sidewalk and streets were mostly deserted, which suited the boys just fine as they headed down the street towards a dark cafe. 

 

"This shop up here has wifi, but it has a password." Ace started to speak, but J held his hand up to silence him. "That's where the cable comes in. If you plug directly into the modem you can bypass the password safeguard and access the system directly."

 

 

The boy paused to think for a moment. "I guess?" He said after a moment. J sighed. "Basically, the plan is to plug this..." He held up the end of the cord. "...into a box inside of that cafe. Which means we'll have to break in."

 

The front door would be locked, of course, but there was almost always a window unlocked, and lo and behold, around the side of the building, a window had it's latch undone. With Ace keeping watch, J slipped into the building.

 

It was dark inside, and he had to flick on his penlight to avoid knocking anything over. Keeping the light low to prevent any passersby from seeing it, he quickly found his objective. 

 

It took him only a moment to plug it in with a satisfying click, which was soon followed by the much louder sound of a key being inserted into a lock. J's heart stopped for half a moment before, with hardly a thought   in his mind, he ducked around the corner as the front door opened. 

 

Ace's eyes were darting around the alley, making sure no one snuck up on the duo and their break in attempt. It was all very exciting really. He had never helped with a break in before, as the others didn't want a little kid slowing them down on runs. But J had decided to bring him along this time. And he wasn't going to let him down. 

 

"So... Nice job keeping watch Ace." A voice said from above him. He jumped, startled as he turned and J dropped from the roof, the coil of wire in hand. 

 

"Wha-?" 

 

"The owner came back. I only just made it out through the trapdoor in the roof."

 

Aces' head dropped as he looked at the ground ashamedly. He'd messed up, big time. Especially on his first run.

 

"Let's go. It's almost sunup."

 

It was light by the time they got back, and J immediately headed over to his equipment to begin the setup. Ace on the other hand, headed over to his corner to be by himself. He was still disappointed in himself for messing up on watch. This had been his big chance, and he, of course, had screwed up. He knew better now though, and next time he wouldn't mess up.

 

If there was a next time.

 

\----------------------------

 

A week later.

 

"I know we didn't really get T.V. at the orphanage before. But now that we have, I can definitely say that it's completely lame." 

 

Toby was staring at the screen with a bored and almost glazed look on his face. A crime drama was playing on the screen and it had at least a couple of the kids attached to it. 

 

"Why are you still watching it then?" J asked from his bed, guitar positioned across his body. He had found some spare strings in a dumpster around the corner and had quickly learned to string them using their connection to the web as a guide. He had stuck to it for the past few days and while his fingers still hurt, they were improving, even if it was only a little.

 

"It's fun to laugh at."

 

Made sense.

 

"E, A, G, and C. Damn, what did C look like again?" He muttered to himself as he stared down at the fret board of the guitar.  3, 1, 0, 1? He strummed experimentally. It sounded too sad for the chord. He moved his middle finger up a fret and tried again. The chord sounded better this time.

 

"Hey. What's happening to the T.V?"

 

J looked up to see the screen go fuzzy. He sighed as he put the guitar down and got to his feet. "What did you guys do..." He said as he approached the couch. 

 

"We didn' do nothin' man!"

 

"Citizens of the human hive, your leaders have withheld the truth. You are not alone in the universe. We have lived among you, hidden, but no more."

 

J stopped as he looked at the screen. The image of well... something metallic had appeared on the screen.

He could only guess that it might be a face.

 

"As you've seen, we destroy your cities at will, unless you turn over this boy."

 

A guys picture appeared on the screen. He looked young. About 18-20.

 

"If you resist, we will destroy the world as you know it."

 

No one spoke for a moment as the face disappeared and the crime drama appeared on the screen again. Then finally, Toby turned to J. 

 

"So... did we just get pranked or something?"

 

J looked at the screen again, then, "Us or the whole world. Either way, someone out there's probably freaking out."

 

The incident had almost passed from J's mind when the sun dipped below the horizon. He had found a song, well more like had heard a song on the T.V, and had quickly looked it up to perhaps learn it.

 

It was not easy, and it was definitely sounding less than pleasant whenever he attempted to strum a chord. Finally, feeling a little put out, he put the guitar aside and fell back onto the padding of his bed. He was tired. It had been a very long day, and he had some modifications to make to the base, starting tomorrow.

 

\---------------------------

 

"Optimus, it is by my order as your medic that you stay under observation! The last thing that we need is for you to offline due to a mechanical issue obtained while you were gone!" 

 

The Autobot leader stopped in his act of rising to his pedes as the agitated medic waved a wrench at him. He had a point admittedly, but something was gnawing at the bot, and he very much so wished to satiate his curiosity.

 

"I apologize old friend. There's just been an issue on my processor ever since I... returned."

 

The medic paused. "The sparkling?"

 

Optimus nodded. 

 

"I may have had an encounter..."

 

_The only light he could see illuminated what looked like the horizon, but when he walked towards it it seemed to never grow any closer or larger. Everything that wasn't in the direction of the light was just dark. An inky blackness that threatened to swallow you up if you stared too long. So he kept walking towards the light._

_Optimus had never known what to expect of the Well. What it looked like, what to expect... he even wondered if this could possibly be The Pit. He quickly tried to dismiss the idea, but it lingered. Lurking in the recesses of his processer like an ugly growth attempting to take root._

_As he walked he began to become aware of faint figures around him, all traveling in the same direction. He would try to discern their features, perhaps uncover their identities if they existed, but most were too faint, too muddled, to see. There were a few that he could see with distinguishing markings, but he did not recognize any until he came upon a figure that he couldn't help to recognize, for it was a comrade he had lost only recently._

_"Jazz!" He called out. His voice sounded muddled, as if he were speaking through a layer of water._

_The figure didn't respond at first, but when he called out his name again, the figure jerked and looked up in surprise. "Optimus? S'no way in The Pit tha's real ya!"_

_Optimus nodded gravely. "As real as this place is..." He glanced around. "Speaking of which..." He cocked an eyebrow at Jazz. They had begun walking towards the horizon light again, though when that had started he couldn't remember._

_"Ah couldn' tell ya Optimus. 'though it doesn' seem quite like th' Well, or th' Pit for tha' matta. We jus' walk towards th' light."_

_"Indeed..." He rumbled, and they lapsed into silence as they continued their endless trek. It was a few klicks, or perhaps even a cycle, before one of the two spoke again._

_It was Optimus who broke the silence._

_"Jazz, before you passed... you said something to Ratchet..."_

_He was silent for a moment, then..._

_"I did..." He grew somber. "I would ask if you found him... but it may be better if you didn't..."_

_"Why do you feel that way? If he is out there alone, he would be safer with our people."_

_Jazz just shook his head. "He's safer where he is then he could ever be with us. If the 'cons ever learned about him he would become an expirment for them, and a prize for Megatron."_

_"An experiment? What do you mean?"_

_Jazz sighed. "When we all got ta Earth, it wasn't ta first time ah 'ad been there. Maybe twelve stellar-cycles before, ah landed in search of ta Allspark. Didn' find it. But ah found mah sparkmate... She was beautiful. She was everythin' ah coulda asked for and more... but she was human."_

_The shock from Optimus was palpable. Finding ones sparkmate wasn't easy, but he'd never expected a Cybertronian to bond with a human. There were just so many differences._

_"Then how did the two of you create a sparkling?"_

_Jazz vented, perhaps a little awkwardly. "Les just say... Nature foun' da way."_

_They went silent again. Optimus, lost in his processes, and Jazz, with his eyes ahead._

 

"It was only soon after that I was revived by Samuel Witwicky." Optimus mused.

 

"Incredible... so we have a Cybertronian Human hybrid somewhere on this planet?"

 

"We can only presume... but perhaps Jazz was right. It may be safer for the sparkling if it stays hidden."

 

"But Optimus...!" Ratchet exclaimed, aghast. "A sparkling. On Earth!"

 

"That is final Ratchet." He said in a low, commanding tone. "This does not leave this room. And we shall not make any attempt to search for it. Understood?" 

 

Ratchet was silent for a moment, his face caught in a mixture of emotions. "Understood..."

 

\--------------------------------------

 

Three years later

 

Toby stood on the catwalk watching the group of people go about their selective businesses below. Some were stockpiling food. Others weapons. A slightly larger group was stockpiling assorted building materials and other assorted miscellaneous items.

 

Their small band of few had grown, slowly at first, then much more rapidly as the last couple of years had passed. At first it wasn't for sure whether they could handle the load, but they had managed it somehow. They had avoided detection by authorities and created a thriving community. And somehow, he, Toby, had been made leader. He wasn't sure why, but according to others he had a tendency to cause others to listen to him, along with a presence of leadership that he apparently had. He hadn't wanted it, but he had accepted the position when no one else had stepped up.

 

And now they had a pretty steady operation. Some scavenged for food to eat, while others scavenged for materials to create items they could sell for some money. They didn't gather much in terms of currency, except for what J made.

 

He swore that that kid was a mechanical genius. It didn't matter the device, he always made it work, and a hundred times better at that. He had seen him turn a hunk of scrap into a working computer that worked better than most that were available. 

 

When he had asked where he had learned to do all that, J had merely replied, "I dunno, it just kinda comes to me."

 

Computers weren't the only things he had made though. He had also designed a fully operational security system with a lockdown mode and eye scanners. Bloody eye scanners. Call him paranoid, but Toby was pretty sure that most government buildings didn't have those.

 

J was currently at a corner of the room working on something he called a Ground-to-Space Internet Relay. Several others were around him following his every order, and stumbling whenever he yelled at them for something. He was practically a slave driver at this point, but until someone got hurt, he'd let it slide. 

 

"The scavenge party is back, sir." 

 

Toby turned to look at the messenger. "Good. I'll be right down." He paused. "...and Kevin?"

 

"Yes sir?" The messenger asked.

 

"Don't ever call me sir."

 

The scavenge party hadn't found much in the way, but one of the members, an up and comer called Alice, had found a collection of seeds. Judging by the looks and a few off handed comments by some members of the group, which held people ranging from 14 to 19, they had thought that grabbing the seeds had been a waste of manpower. 

 

But then Alice had presented her idea. "We could build a garden out back, where the fence blocks anyone from seeing it or us. It would provide a whole source of fresh food for us." She had explained. 

 

Toby had allowed her and a couple volunteers to engage in the project, but only if they could provide results without a net loss to their overall supplies.

 

She replied that she would have fresh food within a few weeks.

 

The GSIR was finished later that day, and Toby found himself looking for J as the sun dipped below the horizon. He found him behind the giant contraption, with a laptop perched on his leg. 

 

"Whatcha doin'?" Toby asked as he casually leaned against the structure.

 

"I'm building the software for the GSIR." He said without looking up.

 

"But I thought it was finished?"

 

J sighed as he leaned back from the computer.

 

"Only the hardware. I have to write coding for the hardware so it can perform the tasks I need."

 

"Which are...?" Toby ventured as he took a glance at the screen, which just looked confusing. It may as well have been alien writing.

 

"Direct connectivity to the satellites orbiting the planet, priority connection for our bandwidth over others, and shielding for our connection so others can't detect or hack it, among other things." He rubbed his eyes wearily.

 

"That sounds complicated, and tiring... you should get some sleep before you start any big projects like that." Toby said with a raised eyebrow.

 

J shook his head. "No, I want to get this stuff up as soon as possible."

 

"J." Toby said as he crouched and put his hand on the youngers' shoulder. 

 

"You shed blood and sweat, and lost days of sleep over this project. It can wait one night. Go get some sleep." 

 

He paused, then added. "That's an order."

 

J stopped and looked at him with surprise. "You're really embracing this leadership role, aren't you?" 

 

"I'm just looking out for my friends' wellbeing." Toby replied with a slight grin. "And you've been obsessing over this project for a while now. It's about time you took a breather."

 

J sighed. "Fine..." He closed the screen of the laptop a leaned back against the GSIR. "I never really thought about it until now, but if you had asked me 5 years ago where I saw myself now, this wouldn't be it."

 

Toby couldn't help but chuckle lightly at that. "Me neither. I probably would've guessed prison or something."

 

"Prison?" He asked, looking over at him. 

 

"Yeah. Either that or the army. They would've kicked me out as soon as possible. I know that from the looks some of them gave me." 

 

J winced. "Or hits."

 

Toby nodded, his expression turning more somber. "Those too."

 

A few moments of silence were broken by Toby rising to hos feet once more.

 

"Now get to bed. The internet can wait a day."

 

\-------------------------

 

The next day.

 

Ace vaulted over the fence and stumbled when his feet failed to catch a solid grip on the ground. 

 

Twin impacts sounded against the plywood only moments after he cleared it, followed by some very loud and aggressive barking. 

 

Ace wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked around for a way out of the small cul-de-sac in the midst of the scrapyard. To the right was a small rundown building, most of its window cracked if not broken, and to the left was a gap in the debris, which was quickly filled by a man wearing grease-stained overalls. "Now would be a good time to stop running. The dogs are more likely to take a chunk out of you than I am!"

 

Ace ignored the man and jumped through an open window and into the building, wincing as he cut his hand on the windowsill. 

 

"Come on boys! Sick 'im!"

 

Dodging into one of the rooms, he spotted a crawlspace and slid into it, putting his hand over his mouth to quiet his breathing.

 

Two dogs sprinted into the room, barking and growling like rabid beasts at his hiding spot. 

 

"Good boys. Come out sunny. Before the mutts drag you out."

 

The man from before stepped into the room, a shotgun in hand and . Ace swallowed as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, then slowly pulled himself out of the crawlspace and stood up slowly, his eyes never leaving the gun.

 

The man walked forward and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. 

 

"Alright you little bastard. We're going to go back to my office, then I'm going to call the police." He began pulling him towards the door. "They can deal with you then."

 

Ace stumbled as the dogs followed then outside. The mans' grip was strong. And there was little chance he'd would be able to escape even if he broke it. 

 

"You kids are a nuisance if you ask me. Always breaking in here to play your stupid games… but no more. I'm going to get better security. And next tim-" 

 

Thump.

 

They both stopped.

 

Thump.

 

The dogs began to whine, tails tucked between their legs as their ears laid back on their head.

 

Thump. 

 

The mans' grip on Ace slackened as they both turned around. Ace's jaw dropped and the man went bug-eyed as their gazes fell upon the giant robot that had appeared behind them.

 

It stood about 18 feet tall with jet black armor, but its' most distinguishing factor stood out as its' piercing red eyes that immediately locked on them.

 

And then it spoke.

 

"Hmph." It scoffed, raising an appendage and aiming it in their direction. "Vermin."

 

Ace had no warning, just a feeling, but he still barely managed throw himself out of the way as a bolt of energy slammed into the area he had been just moments before. Dust filled  the air as he scrambled behind a pile of junk and made himself as small as possible in attempt to stay undetected, in hopes that the giant robot believed he had been caught in the blast. 

 

A dark chuckle filled the air as Ace looked to the side. There was no trace of the dogs or their owner. It was as if they had been vaporized, which was highly likely considering the crater left from the blast.

 

"Maggots..." 

 

Ace's eyes widened as the earth-trembling footsteps started again and drew nearer to him. He didn't dare look, but he could see from a quick glance to his left that there was nowhere that he could go. He tried to make himself as small as possible, then stopped breathing when a large, metal foot landed not three feet to his right. 

 

He didn't move. Not even a pinky as the robot seemed to pause right over him... then continue on through the junkyard.

 

The moment it had drawn what he considered a safe minimum distance, Ace slowly and quietly rose to his feet, then began to creep away as quietly as possible in the opposite direction. 

 

As the distance between the two increased, Ace's speed increased until he was in a full on sprint out of the junkyard. 

 

He didn't stop until he had run halfway back to base, at which point he found himself in an alleyway, leaning against a wall and puking his guts out into a pile of trashed fast food meals and rotten vegetables. When he finally finished his purging, he just wiped his mouth off and stared at the ground.

 

His hands were shaking. Ace looked at them, then started giggling uncontrollably. He didn't what was so funny. It was probably shock. Not that he knew what that was.

 

Turning around, he fell against the wall, slid down it, and was still sitting amongst the alleyway garbage a few minutes later as the last of the giggles brought on from the near death experience left him.

 

It was well past noon. He needed to get back and tell the others.... He got to his feet and brushed himself off, then with quick look up and down the street just in case, he began jogging back home. 

 

Something seemed wrong. He began to get the feeling when he began to notice an increased amount of people on the normally quiet streets. He tried to ignore them as he jogged past the whispering people. It wasn't long before he got the nagging feeling that he should turn around, because it seemed that they were all definitely looking at something, and it was behind him.

 

He finally stopped at a street corner and turned to see what it was. 

 

He almost wished he hadn't.

 

A gigantic circle hung in the sky, or more appropriately filled it. The edges looked like an out of control fire that was slowly eating away at at the sky around it, spreading the dark metallic circle further and further across the sky until it hung, an enormous foreboding moon, eclipsing the sun in a more permanent way then could ever occur otherwise.

 

The deafening silence was shattered when a scream filled the air. Then everyone began to panic. Ace found himself shoved sideways into a light pole by a woman whose eyes were wide with terror. She sprinted out into the street, and before Ace could call out to her in warning, got sideswiped by an SUV, it's horn blaring as it threw the woman’s body into the air before it slammed into the road, broken and unmoving. The car didn't even slow down as it continued it's course down the street and disappeared into the distance.

 

He felt sick as he stared at the woman’s unmoving body. No one was helping her. Looking up and down the street carefully, he moved over to her body and checked her pulse. Nothing.

 

He felt queasy as he stumbled away from the body and hit the wall of a building. He needed to get out of the open. Back to base. He was liable to get trampled by the crowds if he stayed too long. He took a step away along the wall, glanced at the body one last time, then tore his eyes away as he sprinted down the sidewalk, dodging people and trashcans as he headed back towards base.

 

The base was eerily dark when he arrived back at its' front door. It almost made him hesitate as he approached the hidden panel to the right of the door and opened it.

 

When J had built the security system, he had put several identification modules for anyone who wanted to gain entrance. The procedure involved a fingerprint scanner, a code word or phrase known by the owner of the hand, and an iris scanner. Everyone thought he was incredibly paranoid, but they all agreed he was a genius.

 

The hand scanner glowed blue as he put his hand on it. "Flying High." He said as he glanced to the side. The iris scanner unveiled itself and Ace put his eye up to it. 

 

There was a whirring noise, and a click, then the lock on the door disengaged.

 

Everyones heads turned as the door clicked open.

 

"Who is it?" Toby asked one of the kids on watch.

 

"Just Ace." The boy replied as the door opened and the teenager in question stepped in, stopping as he saw everyone looking at him. "Hey...." He muttered, a little uncomfortable with everyone looking at him.

 

"Back to work everyone.... Ace. Where have you been?" Toby asked as he eyed the younger boy with a piercing stare.

 

Ace looked down at the ground. "I... got caught at the junkyard by the man and his dogs..."

 

Toby raised an eyebrow. "How did you escape?"

 

The haunted look Ace gave him nearly froze his heart.

 

"W-when he was taking me back to his office a.... giant robot.... I don't even... It shot at us..." He ran a hand through his hair as he took a shuddering breath. "I was lucky... The man and the dogs...there was just a crater... I barely made it out of there alive..." 

 

"Do you think the robot..."

 

He left the next part unsaid, but they all knew what he implied. Did it happen to have anything to do with the giant planet in the sky? It was all too likely. The distant sound of an explosion reached their ears and all movement inside of the warehouse slowed, then stopped as another series of explosions rang out in the distance. 

 

"Shit..." One of the kids whispered, his voice carrying though the silence.

 

"These walls can't stop much more than a person...." J spoke up from behind the two. "Artillery would tear through them like tin foil..."

 

Toby looked at J, then at the multitude of scared teenagers and kids in the warehouse. "Then... it may be best if we leave..."

 

The warehouse became quietly chaotic immediately as people made preparations and began grabbing things they would need. They lived this life, so it was almost routine for them. The stakes were just much higher.

 

Toby sent a couple scouts out to determine the safest route for evacuation. They would take perch on the surrounding buildings to scan the area. They returned with some bad news.

 

"It looks like the whole city is on fire, and the area to the west doesn't look much better. South would probably be our best bet." 

 

And that settled that.

 

J looked up at the GSIR with a mixture of annoyance and disappointment. He had been very close to finishing it. But he knew it wouldn't really matter anymore anyways. Chances were that the satellites would get knocked out of the air by the alien forces anyways. He sighed and flipped a switch on the device. Nothing happened. The indicator light continued to glare an angry red at him.

 

"J! You ready?" He jumped as he was brought out of his thoughts by the familiar voice. 

 

"Yeah Toby..." He said, patting the worn guitar by his side. "I was just saying goodbye." He nodded at the GSIR.

 

"It's a shame you didn't get to finish it. But you can just build another, eh?" Toby said, looking up at the device. "Maybe. If we find the time."

 

Toby put a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We will. Now come on. We gotta go." He released his shoulder and headed back towards the warehouse door. J took one final look at the GSIR, then followed after Toby. 

 

"Alright everyone!" The warehouse quieted as they gave Toby the floor. "It's not safe outside. From what we can see and hear, it's practically a warzone." He paused as he looked around at everyone. "So what we're going to do is split up in seven equal teams. Every team will be approximately the same size, and heading in the same direction, but the key to safety will be to not get noticed." Kids were nodding to his plan in agreement, some determined, and some scared. "We will use speed and our proven ability to survive to get out of this. If you get separated from your group or get lost, just keep heading south. That's the plan. We'll try and meet up at the Michigan border near Toledo." He paused. "....and avoid major cities. Chances are they'll be big targets for whatever this is. Any questions?" No one moved. "Alright. Let's go!"

 

Everyone organized into squads relatively quickly. Toby and J were both leading separate teams, more due to experience than anything. Toby had been a little unwilling to part with his childhood friend, but they both knew that it was strategically safer for each group. The plan was that each group would head out of the door separately so they didn't get bunched up on the way out.

 

And it was the last kid that walked out the door that paused to take one last look at the place that she had called home. Her eyes glanced over ever detail, the beds they slept in, the corner resembling a workshop, the GSIR with its single green light twinkling in the darkness. It was with effort that she pulled herself away from her home and became the very last human to step foot in that place for a very long time.

 


	2. Seperation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm laughing at myself. I just realized how the note system worked. XD So I own nothing transformers stuff and my characters are my own. I'll update the next chapter I I finish writing chapter 4. :) So sometime in the next month I guess.

They had barely made it out of the city. 

 

At first, the sounds of gunfire and explosions had been distant when they had started out.

 

_The gunfire and explosions had surrounded them in a chaos of red, orange, and silver._

 

But in almost an instant, everything had changed.

 

_Their blades shone a bright luminescent blue as they sliced through the enemies attempting to stop their escape._

 

The pavement all around them had exploded into oblivion, throwing the teenagers into the air, and those that that didn't die from it, found themselves stunned only momentarily before they were forced to move or die.

 

_They had stopped at the bridge to hold off any enemies that they could to give the humans a head start before destroying it and fleeing after them._

 

The next hour was a mad sprint through the streets in an attempt to stay alive, while hoping that the person next to you was still there.

 

_It was a dark day for earth, in every sense of the word. But it wouldn't be the last._

 

\-----------------------------

 

J fell onto the grass and gasped for air, his eyes closed as he attempted to take a brief rest. After he had picked himself off of the ground, he had ran and hadn't looked back. He hadn't wanted to see the look on the kids’ faces as they screamed in pain, or their missing limbs, or the shining red orbs of the giant metal monster that seemed to thirst for their blood. But images were burned into his mind. He opened his eyes again. He saw their faces against the back of his eyelids when he closed them, and he couldn't stand the sight of them. 

 

His guitar had miraculously survived though. It was covered with dust and had received a couple dings and scrapes in the madness, but it had been the only thing he had managed to hold on to. He became aware of the quiet around him at that moment. Other than the distant explosions, there was nothing. He was completely on his own at the moment. 

 

J shivered and wrapped an arm around himself. He needed to move; If not to find others, than to at least get away from the city. A light breeze wafted through the trees as he struggled to his feet. It smelled like smoke and burnt rubber, and it had an oppressive warmth to it.

 

He suddenly felt an intense need to run. To get away from the overshadowing glare of the alien planet above him, away from the fiery glow of the city alighting the sky, away from the smell that he could only start to associate with death. He started to run, guitar in hand, into the dark embrace of the trees, with almost no care as to the specific direction that he was going, as long as it was away from the destruction behind him. 

 

\-------------------------

 

Toby crouched alongside the other kids behind the shelf of the gas station. Assorted candy dotted the shelf and the MnM's in front of him looked particularly enticing, but neither he nor the others dared to make a move, or they would probably die. 

 

They had stepped into the station to scavenge some supplies and take a small break, but it had quickly turned into a hiding spot when something very large and very alien had appeared outside. That and the scream that had been abruptly cut short from the unfortunate soul that had been outside at the moment had caused them all to drop to the ground in from sheer terror. No one breathed. Not until the heard the thundering footsteps move away and into the distance. Toby stood up first, but only far enough to peer over the shelf and out of the front of the gas station. Nothing. 

 

"Alright... Grab anything you need and let's go..." He hissed at the others before edging out from behind their hiding place and moving quietly up to the broken window of the station. Nothing was moving outside, and there was no sign of the person that had screamed. He wrinkled his nose. He didn't want to think about what had happened to them.

 

For the next couple hours they followed a dirt road south. No cars passed them, but they still found themselves ducking into the forest every time they heard an engine fly overhead. While it was still dark out, Toby could still make out the faces of the kids around him as they walked. They looked tired and scared, but they still looked determined. Determined to survive and continue on. 

 

He couldn't help but feel a swell of pride when he realized this. They all were scattered children once. But they had come together, worked together, to survive. 

 

They weren't going to be kids or teenagers if they all made it out alive. They would be men.

 

But for now, they were tired. Toby could feel the cold grasp of weariness on himself just as he could see on their faces. 

 

"That's far enough today." He whispered and they all came to a gradual halt. "Let's move into the trees a little and take a rest." 

 

He would take first watch, and they would continue in the morning, if there was a dawn to wake up to.

 

\-------------------------------

 

J struggled to open his eyes. They felt like they had crusted shut in the middle of the night. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes to clear them, then looked around tiredly. In his terrorized state the previous night he had almost blacked out on his direction of escape. And even now he wasn't sure of where he was. It looked like a rundown car shop, with more than a couple cars still in temporary repair. He had taken refuge inside the shops main office on a bench. And it felt abnormally cold too. Shivering, he got off of the bench and walked over to the door to the office. One of the car bay doors was open, and he could see an assortment of rundown buildings outside, lit by a faint dawn. He frowned. The light looked... weird. Stepping carefully to the doorway, he glanced up at the sky, then immediately felt his stomach clench. The sun was barely peeking past the edge of the giant planet that was still looking over their own. It was still as real as ever, and its giant shadow was a constant reminder of it all. 

 

J shivered again. A small blanket of frost had covered the ground in the middle of the night, which was strange since it was just about midsummer. He rubbed his hands together to stay warm then stepped back into the car shop. He had to get south. This he remembered. He was alone as well, but he had to banish that thought from his mind. Thinking about the others would be useless.

 

He looked at the cars still in repair. Mourning would be useless. Mechanics on the other hand... 

 

Fixing a car would get him to the meet up area in no time. This was the thought on his mind as he looked at the engine of one of the cars, a truck. Everything seemed okay from his view as he looked down at it, but something wiggled in the back of his mind as he stared down at it. He didn't know cars all that well, but he was fairly certain that... He reached in and began to fiddle with the numerous parts inside the compartment. He could see, or more feel, so many things wrong with the way the contraption was made. But he only had the time to fix, not improve, the engine. The fix itself would be...

 

J hissed in pain as his hand slipped and got caught on a piece of metal. He quickly pulled it out as a jagged lance of pain shot through his palm. The cut had sliced his hand clean open and he could see his blood splattered across the engine parts. Holding his hand close, he tried to block out the pain and grabbed one of the rags lying in the shop. While hardly sanitary, it would be better than leaving the cut exposed to the air. He wrapped it around the cut, then glared at the truck for moment, as if he could cause it to quail under his gaze. Then with a sigh he walked up to it and reached into the engine again, this time a little more carefully as he did one more bit of maintenance. Then with a nod of satisfaction, he closed the hood and went over to the window to check and see if any keys were in the ignition. 

 

Nada.

 

He sighed. They would probably be back in the main office. He jogged back through the doorway and spotted two pairs of keys hanging on the peg rack next to the door. He grabbed the one with the Ford logo on it then grabbed his stuff, but paused as he walked past the vending machines.

 

20 minutes later he was racing down the road in the truck, his guitar in the passenger seat and a half eaten Snickers bar in his hand. 

 

The streets were eerily empty. Other than the occasional dog, he saw no living things. It was almost as if everything had just disappeared from the area. He saw a lot of destroyed buildings as he drove, including ones on fire. It was quite often that he had to navigate craters in the pavement, or even take a detour due to an impassible road. It made him nervous. 

 

J eventually found his way to the interstate, but when he saw the carnage there, he immediately regretted it. Cars littered the roadway, many of them rendered unusable by what looked like a wrecking balls work. But then something appeared that made him screech to a halt. 

 

Two girls were running along the road, and behind them, a giant metallic monster, with it's metal claws knocking aside cars like toys as it reached for the two. One girl stumbled and screamed for the other, who hesitated for a brief moment to help her friend. It was a deadly mistake. J watched in horror as the monster caught up to them immediately and grabbed them. But what happened next was entirely unexpected. He expected it to throw them like ragdolls or smash their bodies on the ground like a sick imitation of fruit. But instead, it began to transform; a million parts moving until all that was left was a shiny new sports car.

 

J blinked. Once, twice, the car did a burnout and sped off, thrice. "Wha...no, no, no. What the fuck.... No!" He hurriedly slammed the truck into reverse and slammed his foot into the gas pedal. The truck stalled.

 

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" J punched the dashboard and hit his head against the wheel, causing the horn to give a quiet, 'beep'. He took a couple deep breaths, the tried again more slowly. The gear caught and he turned the wheel quickly, doing a quick turnaround as he processed what he had just seen. The alien robots could turn into cars. Hell, if they could turn into cars, they could probably turn into other things as well. A mental image popped into J's head of a computer gaining arms and attacking someone. It was not a very pleasant thought.

 

The car shuddered underneath him and he tensed. On the contrary, it was a terrifying thought. He glanced warily at the radio. He knew he was just being paranoid, but he couldn't help it. He would be nervous around any vehicle now, or anything in particular. 

 

He drove in relative silence for the next hour. His hand would pulse with pain in time with his heartbeat, which was starting to become impossibly loud in his ears. 

 

"It's all the same...." He started softly, his hand drifting across the wheel as he guided the car. "Only the names will change... Everyday, it feels we're wasting away..."

 

His voice began to rise in volume as he began to get into the song.

 

"Another place, where the faces are so cold. I drive all night, just to get back home. 'Cause I'm a cowboy. On the steel horse I ride. And I'm wanted! Dead or Ali-" 

 

He was cut off as the wheel jerked abruptly, forcing him to grab it and correct it. His heart pounded in his chest as he slowed the car to a stop. He glanced in the rearview mirror to maybe catch a glimpse of whatever had caught the wheels. There was nothing.

 

J sighed, then opened the door and climbed out. A plastic bag drifted across the road, and other than the rumbling of the idling truck and the rustling of the wind, it was quiet, at least for the moment. He closed his eyes and leaned against the front of the car. He could take a rest. Just for a moment.

 

When he finally opened his eyes again, everything seemed a little brighter. He frowned and looked up. More of the sun was beginning to show around the edge of the planet above them, and it warmed his face as it hit it, despite the coolness of the air. 

 

In spite of himself, J smiled. 

 

\--------------------------------

 

Ace took a shuddering breath. Twice. Two times in as many days that he was in the same situation. Unfortunately, this time the robot knew he wasn't dead.

 

Everyone else was. Probably. The building had fallen on the entire group and had only been saved by the bus that he had been next to. Even then, he had nearly been decapitated by a tile that had gone whizzing past his forehead, leaving a long jagged cut. The bus had tipped sideways onto him. He had been lucky enough to be in the gap of one of the windows and was sheltered from the debris by the now crumpled bus. Escaping through the emergency exit in the back, he had emerged to find absolutely none of his teammates around, but a giant red-eyed robot, just like the one in the junkyard, looking right at him. Ace had scrambled right back into the bus and was now huddled behind one of the seats. 

 

"Get out here, rodent!" 

 

The voice was deep, gravelly, and terrifying. There was a loud squeal of metal tearing, and Ace found himself looking up at the metallic face of the alien/robot. As quick as lightning, the robot reached in and grabbed him, causing him to yell in pain as his ribcage was painfully compressed. Gasping for air, he attempted to give the robot a defiant glare. It seemed amused by the defiance, as it said something in a very robotic sounding language and sneered at him.

 

The blood from the cut on his head was dripping into his eyes, blurring his vision, but he could still see well enough to see a small gap in the robots armor. Desperate, he reached into the crevice and grabbed the first thing his hand came into contact with, then pulled it as hard as he could. The robot screeched in pain as a blue liquid began to spray everywhere, drenching Ace. It's grip loosened, and his body slipped through and tumbled towards the ground. Disoriented, Ace twisted in the air and slammed into the windshield of a car. Pain blossomed throughout his side as he rolled off of the car and hit the ground again, once more on his side. His vision went dark and he could only flip off the screeching robot with a delirious grin as his vision faded and he slipped into the dark.


	3. Capture and the Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the chapter being so short, but I like to think chapter 4 more than makes up for this ones length, whenever I post it.

Toledo. 20 miles.

 

That's what the broken sign on the edge of the road had said anyways. It didn't bode well for them. Toby could feel it. Every mile walked just brought shattered cars and burning buildings, but there was one thing missing that made Toby feeling on edge. 

 

They had not seen a single living person yet, and of the bodies there were very few. It was very unnerving. Then the rumbles started, first as vibrations in the ground, then as a faint cacophony of metal. One of his teammates glanced warily at him and he nodded, then said, "Alright everyone, we're getting off of the road... It's too easy to see us out here as it is. Especially with the light." He glanced up at the celestial spheres before waving the group into one of the buildings that didn't seem like it was about to collapse.

 

He tapped the kid that had looked at him. Sam. "We're going to go scout it out, okay? Stay low and quiet. Everyone else? Stay under cover, and trust no one. Safe word is GSIR." He looked at each of them for confirmation, then turned and headed back out to the street. Sam was close behind. 

 

They stuck close to the buildings as they moved towards the city. Quite a few of the buildings around them now, and he could barely see 200 feet with the haze that was starting to settle. Not to mention the smog was dampening the metallic noises, making it hard to orient himself. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped as he looked back.

 

"Sorry..." His partner said with an apologetic look. Toby sighed. "What is it?" Sam pointed up. "We could probably get a better view of the surrounding area from there." Toby followed the kid’s hand. Across the street, there stood a large church with a terraced tower. "Good thinking... Let's go." 

 

They quickly moved across the street, half bent over to keep from being seen, and arrived at the large wooden church doors without incident. He pulled on them experimentally. They resisted his pull with the presence of a large metal lock. "Alright... There should be a back door... but don't break a window. It would be too loud."

 

"And sacrilegious..." Sam mentioned quietly.

 

Toby chuckled under his breath. While that was most definitely the case, he had a feeling that the nearby fires would probably make that point irrelevant. He just hoped that nobody would be in the danger zone when that occurred.

 

 Circling around the side of the building, they found a staircase in the alley behind the church that led down into the basement. A rusted lock was all that held the door shut, and one solid kick got them in. They moved through the dim light of the basement and up the stairs rather quickly into the main hall of the church.

 

Toby paused for only a moment, then continued through the open area of the church with careful steps. Lit candles littered the ground, creating a very potentially dangerous situation, but at the same time a very serene atmosphere.

 

"The people must have come here for shelter. I wonder why they left..." His voice echoed in the empty hall. 

 

"It doesn't look like anything violent happened..." Sam whispered behind him. "Maybe the military found them."    There was hope in his voice that made Toby's face soften. "Yeah. That's probably what happened. Maybe the other kids found the military as well." 

 

It was more of an assurance than a belief at that point, but still, his heart ached for the other kids. He could only pray that they had made it out okay. 

 

The door to the stairway opened with a loud wooden creak, which reverberated throughout the church and made Toby grit his teeth agonizingly. It was a short trip up the stairs before they reached a trapdoor to the roof. "At least this one doesn't have a lock." Toby whispered as he heaved it open with a grunt. It came to a stop resting on the side of the ramparts. He glanced at Sam. "Keep low. We could be seen for miles up here, okay?"

 

The younger kid nodded nervously. Toby grabbed the edge of the opening, then hoisted himself up, making sure to keep his head down as he moved to the edge behind the stone wall. He heard Sam pull himself up as he turned and peered through the gap in the ramparts. A low smog covered the city as far as he could see, which left the tops of buildings seemingly floating in a greyish sea. The view of the skyline was unobstructed though, and it chilled Toby's spine.

 

Dark shapes were moving through the taller buildings, with flashes of light being emitted from them at a fairly regular. The bridge in the distance was broken, it's middle comprised of two limp, blackened pieces, and closer to their position, he could see more dark shapes moving through the smoke, getting steadily closer to them. 

 

"Toby... look at this..."

 

He quickly moved over to Sam's side of the tower and followed his gaze. A few blocks of buildings and the city gave way to the interstate. At first, Toby didn't quite understand what he saw. Then he realized.

 

There were hundreds, no, thousands of people being herded. Like slaves. The alien robots were watching over them like slave masters. Their molten red eyes and glowing weapons like whips to the enslaved peoples. Toby saw none attempt to rebel, and in a way he could understand. Rebellion meant death. 

 

He pulled himself away from the scene and leaned against the stone parapets.

 

"....Christ...." Sam fell against the wall beside him. "They.... They're enslaving us? ...why?" 

 

Toby looked at him. "Labor... An entire planets worth..." He shook his head and sighed. "Come on." He moved back to the trapdoor. "We need to get back to the others." 

 

Sam looked at him, confused. "But... what about all of those people? We have to help them!" Toby shook his head. "We can't. There's a legion of robots out there. We go anywhere near the interstate, they'll see us."

 

"But there are thousands of people down there! Women! Kids, like us! We can't just abandon them!" 

 

"Sam...." 

 

"No!" Sam stood up angrily. "Screw your leadership! We can save them! They're just robots, which means we can outsmart them! And we'll do it! With, or wi-" 

 

Tony clamped a hand around the boy’s mouth and pulled him to the ground roughly, but not quickly enough as a loud, earth-shaking footstep sounded. 

 

"Just robots...?" A dark chuckle filled the air. "Careful..... You might hurt my feelings..."

 

\-------------

 

It felt like his whole world was rocking on high seas, and he had a splitting headache. 

 

Ace did not feel great. He could distantly hear murmurs around him, almost as if he was immersed in a crowd of people. Their talking only added to his headache. 

 

He slowly, and painfully, opened his eyes. Dark shadows were huddled en masse around him, but hardly any seemed to actually be paying attention to him. 

 

"Where... where are we?" He groaned, directing the question to a shadow that was both close and providing its attention to him.

 

"An alien warship. I think." The voice, which was female, replied. 

 

"Well that would explain the swaying..." Ace muttered as he slowly sat up, then instantly regretted the action as it caused the headache to double in size.

 

"That would be the cage... "

 

"Cage? What? Why?" 

 

The shadow shrugged. "I don't know... They don't exactly invite a friendly conversation..."

 

"I mean... it's obvious." A male voice scoffed. "We're going to slaughtered like cattle to feed their alien overlords. Those robots are just their creations!"

 

Ace raised an eyebrow at the voice as the murmurs around them grew in fear. 

 

"Keep it quiet in there!" A nasal, scratchy voice sneered as a heavy force hit the cage and caused it to sway sickeningly. The murmuring instantly went quiet. 

 

"That’s what I thought! And if you don't keep it that way," The voice developed a menacingly creepy tone. "...I’ve heard that I keep _marvelous_ company…” A red glow lit up the cage in the form of the robots red eye. "So please..." It's eye roamed over the people trapped inside. "Do continue talking..."

 

"We're not scared of you!" A voice yelled out. "We'll beat you. Just like we've beaten all the other sons of bitches who've tried to take our freedom!" 

 

It's eye locked on the man, who attempted to look tough, but failed miserably. "...and it appears that we have our first volunteer...." The robot opened a door that Ace had failed to notice before, then reached a clawed hand into the cage for the man. The crowd around him shirked away from him, leaving the ranting madman readily available to be quickly snatched up by the robot. 

 

They could only watch with fearful fascination as he struggled and yelled in the robots grip before it squeezed his lungs, forcing him to be quiet due to lack of air. 

 

"It's impressive how readily your race will turn on one another, especially when given the right price..." The robot sneered, before it walked away from the cage and out of sight, leaving them in darkness once more. 

 

He looked at the girl again. "Hey... My names Ace..." 

 

"Julia..."

 

"Julia... I promise that we'll survive this...."

 

The yells started up in the distance for a moment, then a scream of pain raked their ears, before silence enveloped them again.

 

"...how can you be sure?" A shaky voice replied quietly. 

 

Ace wasn't sure that he had a reply for that.

 

\--------------------------

 

J was hungry. And lost. He hadn't seen a road sign for the last 30 miles and the truck had no map of any kind. It had also been acting up for the past few miles and he decided that the next gas station he arrived at, he would figure out the problem and fix it. Mostly because he wasn't sure if he would find another working and semi-reliable car in the immediate vicinity. 

 

He found a gas station not half a mile later. "Chucks Truck Stop and Shop... catchy..." He muttered to himself as he slowed and pulled into the station. He could see a few parked cars with a couple people lounging near them. He gripped the wheel tighter and pulled up to one of the pumps. He did not trust how they looked. 

 

They eyed him and his car as he climbed out. He discreetly put the keys in his pocket, then headed past them and into the station. He kept his eyes downcast as he walked by them, not eager to incite any kind of interaction.

 

It was dark inside the station. The only light was the dim natural light coming from outside, which didn't exactly make it easy to see. Squinting his eyes, he looked around in hopes to spot a map in the darkness. He didn't see a map. But there was more water and food that he could use. And a flashlight. He grabbed it on flicked it on, then shined it around the station. 

 

Now that he could see it better, it looked like it had been ransacked pretty thoroughly. And... J's blood went cold. There was a red smear on the wall behind the counter. It looked fresh. Slowly, he edged closer and looked over the counter. A man lay on the ground, a hole in his head. The blood was still pooling on the white tile beneath him. He had died only recently. Very recently. 

 

J glanced over his shoulder at the door. Too recently. He needed to get out of the station as fast as possible, but... He looked back at the area behind the counter. On the shelf behind the body was what looked like a rolled up map. He took a moment to decide, but the crunch of gravel outside made his mind up for him.

 

He vaulted the counter and crouched down underneath it, turning off the flashlight just as the door opened. 

 

"Alright... he's in here somewhere...." A male voice said, and a female voice joined in a moment later. "That guitar he had looked expensive... We could sell it off to somewhere..."

 

"What... the moon?" The male scoffed, before raising his voice. "Hey kid, you in here? We just want to talk!" 

 

J put a hand over his mouth to quiet his breathing as he eyed the map. He could grab it and vault the desk, then get out of the station before they had time to react, but it would be now or wait and get caught. 

 

Moving forward out of his hiding place quietly, he stepped gingerly around the dead man's body. The smell of blood filled his nose as he gently grabbed the rolled up paper and tucked it into his shirt. It rustled as it brushed against his shirt.

 

"What was that?"

 

J turned and took a step, then jumped/slid across the barrier. Shoving the woman into a stack of magazines, he burst through the doors and ran head first into a man's outstretched arm, getting effectively clotheslined. 

 

His feet left the ground and his head slammed into the gravel, causing him to see stars. The rest of his body followed half a second later.

 

"Hey Scott. I found your friend! He must have had an invisibility cloak, cause he went right by you!" The man above him mocked.

 

J tried to sit but stopped when the man pointed a gun at him. "Don't fucking move sunny. We ain't done with you."

 

He froze as the two others burst through the doors of the station. "Nice one Dan... He tried to give us the slip..." The first man, Scott, started to say, but the woman walked up to him, anger in her eyes and a scratch on her cheek. "Piece of shit pushed me!" She screeched as she kicked him in the side with a swift foot that knocked the breath out him and caused him to double up with pain.

 

"Babe. You okay?" The man with the gun, Dan, asked as he stepped to her and gently ran his thumb across her cheek, his eyes on the scratch. 

 

"Yeah...." She said as she leaned against him, then glowered at J. "Kick his ass Daniel..." The man grinned, then released the girl and walked back to J. "You're in for a world of hurt, kid. I can't say that I envy you." 

 

J was caught off guard by the punch thrown at him, and it caught him square across the jaw. He was thrown back to the ground as pain erupted in his face. Nothing was broken. Not yet anyways. 

 

It felt like it was broken though. 

 

He felt a hand grab his shirt and lift his head off of the ground. His neck felt weak, but he still managed to rotate his head to look at the man standing over him. 

 

"Don't take it personally kid." 

 

The stars exploded, then fizzled into nothing. 

 


	4. Chapter and the Mistake, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next one. Toby had a bad day, but he's not the only one. Also, royalty is in the perception of the subject.

"Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end..." A lone claw tapped a bar of the cage as the robot looked into the cage with an almost mournful look. "I'll miss our little sessions..." The people were avoiding its gaze in any way possible. No one wanted it's attention. 

 

The spacecraft gave a jolt, causing some people to stumble as the cage swayed from the motion. "But now it is time... Time for us to part ways..." It's voice lowered to a seductive growl as it leaned in close to the cage. "...but I'm sure I'll see you all again soon..."

 

It pulled away from the bars and disappeared from sight, then another alien voice emerged. "These are the fleshies?"

 

Ace edged closer to the walls and looked out, then almost regretted looking out. The drop to the ground was almost unimaginably high. He gripped the bars tightly as he pulled his eyes away from the long fall and looked for the source of the voices. 

 

In the doorway to the room, two of the robots stood, one was hunched and didn't appear to be in the best condition. Ace recognized it as their jailor. The other one had dark armor, but not as a color scheme. It was covered in soot and it's right hand appeared to be sparking, but it dwarfed the other in size and stature.

 

"Yes... Do be gentle... They are so... delicate..." It purred as it tapped it's claws together and glanced back at the cage. The other turned to follow the jailors gaze and both of their eyes locked on Ace. Then he realized. Against all odds, he knew that robot.

 

It grinned as it recognized him as well and walked up to the cage. The people around him backed away, leaving him alone to face the giant, his arms locked and tense around the bars of the cage. It's voice rattled him to the core. 

 

"Oh... I'll be very gentle..."

 

It laughed, a dark, evil rumble as it grasped the top of the cage and shook it violently, causing the people inside to topple like dominoes. Ace was thrown against the bars painfully, but still held on with locked arms to not fall back into the mass of people.

 

"Drones!" It roared as turned from the cage. "Get in here and collect the slaves!" Two faceless robots entered the room. They had odd visors covering their faces and didn't seem to harbor any kind of emotion as they both grabbed one side of the cage and lifted it away from its position on the chain. 

 

"Follow." 

 

Their path took them out of the room and through the ship. They passed a number of the robots, many of which regarded them with varying levels of curiosity. The drones themselves were much more frequent though. But they seemed to pay little to no attention to the procession as they passed by, until they reached a rather large door. 

 

The robot sighed. "Home sweet home..." It pressed a button and the door began to open, not unlike a the back of a military jet. 

 

"Welcome to Cybertron, fleshies..." It growled as the first vestiges of light began to trickle through the opening. "You will live, work, and die here..."

 

The door opened more, revealing a huge, metallic landscape covered by enormous ruined structures, and a bright sun, rising in the sky on the distant horizon.

 

"You will never see your home again. And if the work doesn't kill you, we will."

 

 The robot walked off of the ship and on to the alien landscape, the drones carrying the cage right behind.

 

Ace took a breath. The smell of burnt, charred metal assaulted his nose. It filled the air and although he could barely stand it, he was forced to bear it. In an attempt to ignore the smell, he looked up at the sky, then gasped in surprise. There, like a giant moon, was a planet. It's intense green and blue colors were like a refreshing breeze compared to the harsh shiny surface of the alien. 

 

"It appears that I may been wrong in my initial judgment." Ace looked away from Earth to see the robot watching him. "You may be able to see the Earth. But you will never set foot upon it again." It pulled in close. 

 

"You spilled my energon... and for that... your remaining days upon this planet will have you begging for me to end your miserable life." Ace did his best to glare defiantly at the robot as it leaned in close to the bars. It's suffocatingly hot breath caused sweat to appear in beads on his forehead. 

 

"And if any of your fellow fleshies attempt to aid you, I will rip them apart. Slowly...."

 

They held gazes for a moment, then the robot pulled away, gesturing to the drones to follow him as he led the way across the planets surface. "They will rebuild our planet until it is glorious once more, and their bodies will waste away beneath the very foundations when that time comes..."

 

\----------------

 

Toby pulled Sam to the hatch and pushed him inside as a giant metal hand grabbed the edge of the terrace. He took one glance at it, then slipped in after Sam, pulling the trapdoor shut as he did. They both froze as the sound of metal grinding filled the air, followed by a disgusted sigh. 

 

"Fraggit. Don't hide!" There was a bone rattling crash as the robot punched the tower, completely destroying one of the corners. 

 

They ducked as they were pelted by the debris. "Go!" Toby shouted as he began to run down the stairs, two at a time. The robot pummeled the tower again, it's fist destroying the tower wall and stair in front of him. He barely managed to stop, but still teetered on the edge of the abyss as he attempted to regain his balance. "Toby! I've got you!"

 

The robot hit the tower once more and he lost his balance. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he turned and grabbed for anything in reach. His hand met Sam's, and for a moment, he thought that he was alright. But his hand slipped through the other boy’s and he tumbled off of the edge.

 

It was dark when he came to. He was covered in dust and stones, and when he tried to move, pain spiked in his arm. His breath caught in his throat as the pain hit him and he stopped attempting to sit up. He was surrounded by the ruins of the church's tower. Shattered bricks and wood surrounded him, along with the ruins of the tower stair. He cough as he accidentally inhaled some of the dust filling the air, then licking his dried lips, he called out, "Sam...?".

 

There was no answer, only an overwhelming silence as the words died in the dust filled air. Alarm filled Toby as he called out again, but louder. "Sam!" Once again, there was no reply, which made him quickly rise into a seated position, eliciting a pained groan from the teenager. He took a moment to breath, then using his good arm, pushed himself onto his feet. His injured arm hung limply by his side. He didn't dare move it and experience more pain. 

 

Spotting a hole in the side of the shattered tower, he moved slowly over to it and clambered through, wincing as his bad arm brushed the edge of the hole. Outside was darker than ever, and if there hadn't been fires burning nearby to light the street, he wouldn't have been able to see.

 

"Sam!" He called out again, cupping his good hand to his mouth as he yelled into the street. The word reverberated off of the buildings across the street, but once again, there was no answer.

 

Panic began to throb in Toby's chest as he began the walk back to the initial hiding place for his team. He could only hope that Sam had escaped the robot and made it back to the others. The alternative wasn't something he wanted to think about.

 

Something hit his face and he flinched in surprise as he brought his hand to his face, just as another thing hit, and then he realized, it was starting to rain. Thick, heavy droplets, splashing down upon the pavement and his hair while making a pattering noise not unlike the sound of many tiny feet running across the ground. 

 

He was soaked through his clothes when he reached his teams hiding spot, but what he found shattered the last of his resolve and caused the panic that had been bubbling inside to well up inside him and burst out like a flood. 

 

"GSIR!..... GSIR!" He shouted with a panicked voice and he sprinted towards the destroyed building. "James! Kane! Anyone!" He nearly slipped in a puddle but caught his balance as he jump into the pile of rubble and began pulling wood and stones. He forgot all the pain in his arm as he ripped debris aside, one part hoping to find one of the kids, the other not for fear that he would only find their lifeless bodies, stained with soot and scarred by the rubble.

 

Finally, with his voice hoarse and his hands ripped and bleeding, he fell to knees in the midst of the rubble, breathing heavily from both exertion and fear. His hands were clenched into fists at his side as he glared at the ground in front of him. It's inky, shimmering darkness offering to take him in. To bring him to his dead teammates if only he would just let go and drift away. His gaze hardened and he gritted his teeth. It was the robots. The aliens. The monsters.

 

They had come here. Forced them to flee their homes, then chased them down like hounds and hunted them for sport. 

 

He would kill them. He would get revenge for all of his friends. His family. And when he had sent them all to hell, he would follow them and...

 

The realization hit Toby like a rock as his hands unclenched. He had failed his team. He had failed his family. They had entrusted him to be their leader, to ensure their safety as he guided them. And he had failed. Spectacularly. He was as deserving of the title leader as he was to live. Any of the others. Whether it be Sam, J, Kane, Alice... He closed his eyes as their faces flashed through his mind. Any of them deserved to live over him...

 

He felt a single tear form in his eye and slowly roll down his face as it mixed with the rain.

 

\---------

 

J jolted awake. He felt incredibly disoriented, and his face felt like a ton of bricks had taken turns, one at a time, socializing with it. He groaned as he reached a hand up and gingerly touched his jaw. It felt swollen, and bruised. His right eye didn't feel much better and he couldn't see out of it. That's when he realized where he was. He had woken up inside of his truck. The headlights were on and they lit up the inside of what looked like a barn.

 

How had he gotten there? 

 

The last thing he could remember was getting beaten up by the guy at the gas station. He winced at the recent memory. After that, he couldn't imagine that he had somehow gotten out on his own. They must have taken his stuff and driven him away or something. 

 

But that made no sense... They had killed the store manager seemingly without hesitation, and... He took a quick look at the back seat. His guitar was still there, with his snacks as well. This was making less and less sense....

 

He gingerly opened the car door, giving a slight gasp of pain as his side flared up as well. He had received a kick as well as far as he could remember. The woman must have hit him harder than he thought.

 

He held on to the side of the car for a moment to wait for the pain to disappear. Then with a hand holding his side, he slowly walked to the barn door. It was raining. A light sprinkle that filled the air with an almost cloud-like mist. And it was dark. With no light other than the residual light of the cast by the truck, he couldn't see more than a couple of feet out into the open before it folded in on itself with an inky blackness.

 

He reentered the barn and closed the doors behind him. It was dark outside, and he hurt too much to start driving again. Climbing back into the truck, he flicked off the headlights and leaned back in the seat. Sleep was a much better idea. He closed his eyes and relaxed into the seat.

 

/Creator./ 

 

His eyes jolted open and he flicked on the headlights. Light flooded the barn and he looked around at the hay, his heart thudding in his chest. He must have sat there for two minutes before he sighed and let out a breath. Nothing was moving, and there was no sign of anything being moved, not that he could remember the room’s exact layout.

 

He flicked off the headlights and leaned back, but didn't close his eyes, he stared into the darkness, just waiting for his heart rate to slow down. 

 

/Don' be scared./

 

J froze from fright. Either the voice was coming from inside his head, or inside of the car. Neither one was comforting. 

 

/I won' hurt ya./

 

"What..." He barely breathed. His hand slowly reached for the door handle. The voice was coming from the radio, but he could also almost feel it in his head. It didn't help to settle his distressed psyche in the slightest.

 

/Don' panic, I mean ya no harm./

 

It took him a millisecond to decide on his next course of action, then he was flinging the door open and himself out of the car. He realized after he hit the ground that doing that would cause him a significant amount of pain, mostly in his side, which seemed to be more damaged than he had thought.

 

He forgot completely about the robot as he momentarily blacked out from the explosion of pain. When it finally petered out, he let himself slowly uncurl from the fetal position he had taken on the dirt floor and opened his eyes.

 

He immediately scrambled back as fast as he could and pressed himself against the side of the barn. The robot stepped towards him and he squeezed his eyes shut as he threw his arms in front of his face to protect himself.

 

They had found him. The giant killer robots had found him and these would be his last moments. He hadn't expected it to end this way, curled up against a barn wall with a giant death robot with purple eyes ready to squash him.

 

/Ya alright?/

 

What?

 

Something large, metal, and warm nudged his foot. 

 

/Come on, say somethin'./

 

J slowly opened an eye. It was crouching maybe five feet away, it's head bent low and it's glowing eyes watching him with concern. And it was big. Much bigger than him. It practically filled the room.

 

"....please don't kill me..."

 

He uttered those words, and confusion, then shock appeared on the robots face. /I would neva'! I didn' mean to scare ya... I just wasn' sure how ta get your attention withou' scarin' ya./

 

"You.... you're not going to attack me?" J asked as he started to lower his arms slowly.

 

/Not a chance./

 

"Then...." He looked more closely at the robot apprehensively. "...why?"

 

It's face seemed to change to a look of respect and it stepped closer, then much to J's surprise, it fell to one knee and bowed it's head as it began to speak with an almost entirely different voice.

 

/You are the creator. My only wish is to guard and protect you, if you will allow it./


	5. It's Just The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya. I know I haven't really posted in a while, and that the whole once a month thing is kinda bogus right about now, but my life, which is like a constant existential crisis, happened. Nothing more than self doubt and laziness. But here's a new chapter, which is a little short, but the one after is longer. Enjoy. Also, the name of this chapter is kind of random. I'm not good at them at the moment.

Optimus was tired. They had been evading the Decepticon forces for sometime now as they tried to make their way to the temporary fallback position for NEST's forces. It wasn't easy. In the early stages of their time on Earth it had been less challenging due to the limited Decepticon forces. But now, with almost all of the Decepticon force in play, the Autobots and the people of Earth were at an incredible disadvantage.

 

They had split up to avoid drawing attention as they headed as quickly as possible to the rendezvous. Bumblebee had taken the boy, Samuel, and his mate, Carly. Ironhide and the Lieutenant Colonel were enroute to pick up his wife and child, and the others, some somewhat begrudgingly, had taken what soldiers they could while still staying combatically efficient. 

 

He himself had barely managed to fend off Sentinel and Megatron. Even now he was suffering from wounds he acquired from that battle, and he knew that they would not give up easily in the search for him. A Prime was a prize many Decepticons wanted to claim, and he would allow no being to be in his company while the danger of being in his greatly outweighed the danger of being without. 

 

He eased forward on his wheels and scanned the empty road that stretched out in each direction for many miles. It had been quiet for some time now, which meant that it was time to move once more. 

 

The Autobot leader had taken shelter inside of an abandoned sewage tunnel outside of a place the humans called Bardstown. The overhead Decepticon activity had increased significantly only moments after he had stopped inside the tunnel for a short recharge, and he had been forced to stay there for many hours. While the benefit of the rest period was something he knew Ratchet would have encouraged, he knew that both he and many others didn't have such a luxury.

 

He pulled out into the slowly brightening dawn, but kept his lights off. They would only draw unwanted attention. His sensors were sufficient.

 

Optimus drove for many joors. The streets were almost completely empty, but he avoided any vehicles that he detected. There was no telling which were friend or foe, and while he was still steadfast on his determination to help the humans survive, recent events had shown that not all humans were keen on resisting the Decepticons. 

 

As he had seen time and time again, and once more, power had the ability to corrupt the members of any sentient race.

 

He drove into the human state of Tennessee, and then even further on into Arkansas and finally Texas. He encountered less and less Decepticons and more and more humans the further he drove, and only had to take a couple of detours to avoid Decepticons. Unfortunately, the increased amount of humans also meant that the traffic grew steadily slower as he drove into Texas until it appeared to come to a dead stop on the crowded highway. By this time, the day was cast in a sort of half-light, with the partial eclipse of the sun courtesy of his home planet being the source. Even now he noticed the glances of the humans when they looked upward in fear at it. But there was wonder there as well. Wonder at things they did not at the moment understand. It humbled him to know that they thought his own race was incredible, when they themselves had made such incredible advances in culture, creating an incredibly complex society with traditions that he could not begin to understand. What they lacked in age, they more than made up for in spirit.

 

Optimus pulled himself from his observations and back to the present situation at hand. He needed to get off of the highway and find a way around the artificial roadblock. Every second tarried was another second that the Decepticons grew closer.

 

He eyed an off-ramp that was coming up. It would have to do. Maneuvering gently out of the lane, Optimus slowly rolled down the curb adjacent to the traffic. Some of the cars honked at him angrily, but he paid them no additional processes as he pulled on to the off-ramp and began to accelerate. It was time to rendezvous with NEST.

 

\----------

 

"I'm.... you.... what?" J was more than confused. The fear was no longer there, but it had been replaced by a million questions. One of which being, 'why wasn't the killer robot fulfilling its main killing role'?

 

"Hold on a second... just, hold on." He said as he put a hand up, as if to stop the robot from doing something, which he most certainly wouldn't be successful at. "I'm your... 'creator'? What does that mean? I hardly built a giant killer robot.... I think I would remember that... right?"

 

The robot stayed in it's kneeling position as it answered. /Ya voice called meh from the Well. It's by ya han' that I function 'gain./ It raised it's head and looked at him with it's bright, glowing, blue eyes. /Ah owe ya mah life./

 

J had taken a step back when it had raised it's head again, but was now standing rather awkwardly with his hands by his side. A giant robot believed that he had resurrected it. 

 

Okay.

 

If anything, he could probably use this to his advantage. If the robot thought he was some kind of savior or something, he could use that. It was one less thing trying to kill him at least, and besides, who didn't want a giant robot bodyguard?

 

It was still watching him with those bright, unblinking eyes. "Okay. Uhh..." He racked his brain for something to say. "Do you have a name or something?"

 

/Name's.../ It paused, then stopped. /Mah name's... mah name's..../ It looked at the ground, seeming a little frustrated.

 

"Okay, okay! I'll just call you..." His mind raced to think of a name, then said the first thing that came to mind. "Rusty! Yeah. Let's just go with Rusty. Is that alright with you?" J had gotten the name from the robots paint. It had spots of rust in patches across itself, and the appendages on it were looking worn down. Actually, now that he looked at it more closely, the robot did not look like it was in good shape. Bits of its' outer covering were bent jaggedly, and some parts were missing entirely, having been damaged from some earlier event.

 

/If tha's what the Creatah desires.../ 

 

J twitched, then put up a finger. "Also, stop calling me creator. Just call me J."

 

/...J?/

 

"Yes. J. It's what everyone I know calls me, so just call me that. Okay?"

 

Rusty seemed to consider for a moment, then nodded in approval. /As ya wish crea-/ It stopped for a moment, then tried again. /As ya wish.... J./ 

 

J nodded his satisfaction. "Alright." He let out a sigh as he glanced around at the barn. "I'm going to go to sleep until morning, or any kind of light, comes... I don't know if you... Do you sleep or anything?"

 

/Sleep?/

 

"You know, uhh, lay down. Rest?" Rusty nodded in understanding. /Ah have to go intah recharge. Ah guess tha's what ya call... sleep?/

 

J shrugged. "I guess."

 

"Alr-"

 

He jumped back as Rusty abruptly began to start to fold in on itself, and in a couple seconds, in its place was the truck. The door popped open. /Get on in./

 

His eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at the truck. J 's heart rate had jumped at the sudden movement, and it didn't help that he was already on edge.

 

"What?"

 

/Get on in. Ya need ta recharge./

 

"I..." He ran a hand through his hair a little awkwardly. "I'll just sleep in the hay tonight. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you find the idea of me sleeping inside of you a little weird anyways..."

 

/Not at all. Ah hardly feel it./

 

"Umm..." He looked away from the truck. "...just don't worry about it.... I'll be fine." The hay was relatively dry, so he just chose a corner and sat down. While sleeping in the truck would have been a no brainer before, it felt weird now. The idea of sleeping inside of it just made him cringe ever so slightly just thinking about it. And he didn't care that it practically revered him, or that the air had an unseasonal chill to it. The images of explosions and bodies were still in the forefront of his mind. 

 

Then he remembered the trio at the gas station and realized that he could probably guess what had happened to them. He shrank into his corner and glanced at the truck. It's headlights were still on, giving the barn some illumination. The truck shifted under his gaze and he quickly looked away. He would just have to avoid thinking about it. Wrapping his arms around him, he huddled against the hay and closed his eyes. 

 

He just hoped that the nightmares he knew he would have wouldn't be there to greet him in the morning.

 

\------------

 

Ace hadn't eaten in a long time. He was beginning to grow weary from lack of food or sleep. To be honest, he was surprised he had lasted as long as he had. The others had at least gotten a brief rest and some scraps of what resembled food. The robot hadn't been lying when it had said life would be rough. 

 

It felt like hell.

 

Which reflected exactly how he felt at the current moment. His vision swam as he lifted the crude pickax and swung it at the metallic rock surface that seemed to cover the entire surface of the alien planet. The rock was really hard. Only after numerous jarring swings could he actually break through the surface and split the metal away from the ground. He would grab the rock and carry it to a slowly growing pile, then go back and repeat the process. 

 

He could see the others give him glances of sympathy, and on occasion he would catch glimpses of Julia. She would give him a frightened look which he would just return with a strained grin. It was hard to smile, but he managed. But he couldn't let anyone help him. Not without risking intensifying their suffering. 

 

And the robot watched on. It's crimson eyes ever watchful from the cliff tops. It wasn't the only pair of red eyes upon the ridge, but it was the one he wouldn't forget. He still avoided their gaze though. The fiery orbs bored holes through his back and as much as he wanted to turn and get rid of the feeling of being watched, like vultures circling their prey, he knew that somehow, someway, it could get worse.

 

He stumbled and his stomach lurched painfully. The pain of hunger was nothing new to him. Living on the streets got one used to such things. But his stomach felt like it was on fire. It wasn't the dull pangs one felt after going without a meal for a day, or even the cramps of a bad meal that you had to live through because you knew that as much as it hurt, you still needed the energy to survive. 

 

But this was liquid fire.

 

Like a poison burning inside of his abdomen. He couldn't breath. Breathing meant more pain. He took a step forward. Then another. He reached down and grabbed the pickax. The fire lanced through his insides, and he used the pain to swing the axe as hard as he could at the rock. 

 

A cracked appeared in the rock. He swung again as more pain hit him. The crack widened. The metal tip rose into the air one more time to deliver the final blow, and that's when the pain broke through. 

 

He felt his insides get torn apart as a knife made of fire burned inside of him. The knife did not care what direction it went. It shredded and cauterized everything. 

 

The pickax froze above his head, then his grip slackened and it fell to the ground behind him. He took a short, shuddering breath, then toppled forward, his legs having lost the strength or will to carry him any more. The ground met him like a soft blanket, and he couldn't help but notice how comfortable the metallic mattress was. He could stay there forever, with the little rocks that collected on the ground around him providing him company. A small smile came easier this time.

 

Ace's vision was beginning to fade, and a random thought spiraled out of the depths of his mind that almost made him laugh out loud. Making a habit of slipping into unconsciousness at every random venture probably wouldn't be the best idea, but damn it if the ground here didn't feel amazing.

 

At this, he did start laughing. Quiet, wheezing chuckles as hands wrapped around him and turned him over, then began to lift him. Little shadows danced in front of his eyes and his body swayed too and fro.

 

The dreams came, and they taunted him, made him angry at no one and everyone, both at the same time. Visions of food. Hot, steaming, meals of turkey and mashed potatoes with roasted vegetables. A fresh oven baked apple pie with cold ice cream on the side, covered with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Scrambled eggs with bacon and sausage, a toasted and buttered english muffin on the side with jelly spread on the inside. A cool glass of milk. 

 

The visions darted in front of him and as he reached out for them, they darted away again, just out of the reach of his outstretched hands, tantalizing close, and tauntingly far away. All the while, shadows darted around the corners of his vision and when he finally managed to grab a turkey sandwich filled with melted cheddar and provolone cheese, a sliced tomato, and lettuce, the cheese slowly starting to drip off of the crust, the shadows grabbed him from behind and ripped the food from his hands. He screamed and thrashed as he was dragged from the food, his savior that would ease his plight and cure his insatiable hunger. Curses streamed from his mouth at the shadows as they threw him to the ground and held his arms and legs down. 

 

Ace made a valiant effort to resist the forces holding him down until another shadow appeared and shoved something into his mouth. He tried to spit it out as the shadow began to choke him. A bitter taste filled his mouth and his struggles weakened. A grey fog covered the area and the shadows' grips slackened. 

 

His vision grew fuzzy and the shadows drew back, disappearing into the encroaching fog. He was alone. All alone. 

 

He could finally rest.

 

 


End file.
